


Tribute

by killerweasel



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Asexual Character, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 00:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1585109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turns out Newt and Hermann have more in common than they thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tribute

Title: Tribute  
Fandom: _Pacific Rim_  
Characters: Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb  
Word Count: 1,061  
Rating: PG  
A/N: AU before the events of _Pacific Rim_  
Warnings: n/a  
Summary: Turns out Newt and Hermann have more in common than they thought.

"Did Tendo say when they might get the air conditioning working again? I can't do anything with my samples right now. The heat causes them to decompose faster than normal." Newt mops his brow. "I don't understand how you can function under all those layers."

"Practice." Hermann tries to ignore the sweat trickling down his spine. "Tendo said they're waiting on a replacement part. It should be here sometime tomorrow."

"Screw this. I'm too hot to think straight." Newt tosses the notebook he was scribbling notes in to the side. "I'm going to go take a cool shower and then flop down on my bed surrounded by fans."

"May I join you?" Hermann rolls his eyes at the look on Newt's face. "I don't have any fans in my room. And as you know, I'm not interested in the thing which crossed your mind a moment ago."

"I know that, Hermann. We've split a bed a dozen times in the last few months." Newt heads towards the door to the lab, pausing to glance at Hermann over his shoulder. "Give me ten minutes before you come. My room is a bit of a mess."

"When is it not?"

\---

"What's wrong, Hermann?"

Hermann stares at his hands for a moment. "The other times we've slept together, I've had my pajamas. It is far too warm for that. The best way to stay cool would be to strip down to my boxers."

"If this is about your scars, they're not going to bother me." Newt runs a towel over his hair a few times to get the extra water out of it and then throws the towel in the direction of the bathroom..

"It's not because of the scars on my leg and hip. I've had quite some time to get used to them and they no longer bother me. Besides, scars are proof you managed to survive something, correct?" Hermann removes his jacket and sweater vest, setting them both on the chair near the bed. His shoes, slacks, and socks follow, leaving him in his shirt and boxers.

Hermann's fingers hover near the bottom button of the shirt. "Newton, I want you to promise me you will think before you say anything. Sometimes the filter between your mouth and brain doesn't kick in and if you say something idiotic, that'll be the end of it."

Newt's almost afraid of what Hermann is going to show him. Maybe Hermann has a twin growing out of his stomach that tells knock-knock jokes in German. The idea is so insane he has to clap his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. Hermann eyes him warily. Newt takes a deep breath. "I promise, Hermann."

Hermann unbuttons his shirt slowly, occasionally pausing to shooting Newt a glare. He slips his shirt from his shoulders, shivering a little as the cool air from one of the fans dances across his skin. Newt gasps, making Hermann smile. "Not what you expected, was it, Newton?"

"It's gorgeous." The words escape before Newt can stop them. Newt sits down on the bed and leans in closer, studying the lines of words and numbers inked in Hermann's flesh which spiral around both his arms from shoulder to wrist. While the tattoos are all in the same style, Newt can see the work has been done by several artists over the years.

The spiral on Hermann's left arm consists of the programming code he wrote for the Mark-1 Jaegers. Newt also spots the location of the Breach and when it was discovered, thanks to Hermann's calculations, wrapped around Hermann's bicep. The tattoos on Hermann's right arm turn out to be a double spiral, one above the other, are a list of names and dates. The first few are unfamiliar to Newt, but he recognizes the rest.

"I have to keep adding to this side." Hermann sighs. "We've lost so many Rangers over the last few years."

"Were these Rangers too?" Newt's finger brushes over the oldest names. He hears Hermann suck in a breath at the contact. "These dates are from before the Mark-1's went live."

"Had we perfected the technology in time, they would have been. They were the first to attempt to Drift." He shakes his head. "You weren't there for that. It wasn't pretty, Newton."

Newt sits back and begins to unbutton his own shirt. "I know you've seen some of these before, Hermann, but this time I want you to look closely." He sets his discarded shirt, along with Hermann's, on the chair with the rest of Hermann's clothes. "I know people think I've got the Kaiju on my skin because I'm obsessed with them or maybe some sort of fanatic, and maybe that's a little true, but they are the biggest, most interesting thing which has happened to our world in forever, and I never want to forget that."

Hermann shifts his body to get a better look at the colorful ink decorating the majority of Newt's upper body. While the smaller man is still wearing his pants, Herman knows his legs are covered from thigh to ankle with tattoos. "What am I supposed to be looking... oh." Carefully etched in the outline of the Kaiju are the dates of when the creatures came through the Breach, followed by the name of the Jaeger which engaged them in combat, and the Rangers who were lost in the process.

"People tend to forget things. Sure, they'll remember that there were Kaiju and Jaegers fought against them, but after the war ends, the world will move on. It'll all end up being footnotes in history books." Newt gives Hermann a small smile. "This way, I won't forget."

"Indeed." Hermann turns his arm around, looking at the names covering it. "These are the first thing I see when I'm getting ready in the morning and the last thing I look at before I go to sleep. It reminds me not to give in to despair, even in the darkest times. I will continue to fight until I can no longer draw breath. I owe them that much."

"Giving up is not an option." Newt flops down on the bed next to Hermann. "We're all that's left. We'll be the ones to figure out how to stop them. You'll see."

"I certainly hope so, Newton, for all our sakes."


End file.
